Tales from the Cafe
Series : (Before the coffee gets cold #2)
By Toshikazhu Kawaguchi
Published year : 2017
Page count : 150 pages
Medium Used : Kindle Paperwhite
Genre : Time Travel, Fiction, Magical Realism, Contemporary, Emotional Drama, 2024-read.
Rating : 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I have not read the part 1 in this series and so I am not aware what the foundation is laid for this book. There are some unmistakable references to the first book here and I can understand that all the rules are explained in this book as well, creating a rich tapestry of background information.
This is not a hardcore science fiction novel. This book focuses on a message that helps people deal with loss, failure and death in a novel way. When someone dies and leaves a beloved person behind, the person left should try to move on and be happy instead of being moored to a lost past because that's what the dead person would want them to do. Their happiness is a gift from the happy and joyous past they shared.
There is a Cafe in Tokyo where it is possible for someone to travel back or forth in time. They can only sit in one chair and coffee can be served to them by only one specific waiter to make it happen. There are a set of five rules to be adhered to in order to have a successful time travel experience. They cannot move from the single chair in the past/future experience and should try to get back to the present before the coffee gets cold. Multiple people visit the Cafe and go back and forth in times meeting their beloved - but dead relations - and recuperate from their emotional guilts and despondencies.
The story setting is in a warm and cozy Cafe where hot coffee is freshly brewed and served. The whole ambience of the book also exudes a certain warmth and encourages the people to be vulnerable, emotionally open and not hold back. I am surprised by some elements nevertheless. How could the visitors take the rules for granted? How could someone not try and break them just to know what would happen? How come the Cafe is mostly deserted when there is so much potential for experiencing a magical time travel ride?